


And Isn't It So Sweet?

by ichigoangel



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, LITERALLY, M/M, at least i think, because the world needed it don't even deny it, lots of fluff, mature ratin cuz future smut of course, non-tragedy!, sweet lolita!levi, these dresses n petticoats are fluffy as frick after all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-15
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:24:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ichigoangel/pseuds/ichigoangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikasa gets Eren to accompany her to a Lolita Meetup, where he meets a twenty-three year old sweet lolita named Levi who he very much mistook for a girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This was GOING to be a oneshot

**Author's Note:**

> This is the shit that happens when I spend too much of my life writing sad things (pokes HMS and sighs). Sweet lolita Levi and shitty jokes. 
> 
> In celebration of me getting my first lolita outfit, I present you this. Whatever the hell this is. 
> 
> Enjoy? Enjoy. Don't take it seriously. One bit. I swear.
> 
> Put the rating to M right away because we all know there'll be smut in the future. Woo.

“No.”

“Eren, you say no every single time.”

“I don’t feel like parading around with a bunch of giggling girls in frilly dresses.”

“Oh, come on. I go with you to all of your stupid shit. Besides, shouldn’t you want to spend your day with a bunch of girls? Lord knows that’s the most attention you’ll ever get from them. They love it when boys come along, anyways.”

“That was a low blow. I can hang out with girls anytime I want.”

“Sure you can. You’re right; the lolitas probably won’t want to give you attention either.” Mikasa’s knowing, overly condescending tone pissed Eren enough to prompt involuntary response from him.

“Oh, yeah, you think so? Well, you know what? I’ll go to your stupid fucking frill party. I’ll go, and the girls will be all over me!”

Mikasa grinned in satisfaction, knowing that her adoptive brother had played right into her plan. It didn’t take much to get a rise out of the seventeen year old.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to. You already said you wouldn’t wear an outfit to match with mine, anyways. Even though I went to the trouble of buying it and every-” Mikasa was cut off by Eren. 

“Oh, shut up. I’ll wear that, too.”

“Really, now?”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s hurry up and get ready before I change my mind.”

“You get worked up so easily. All I said was the girls might not give you the time of day and suddenly you went from hell no to hell yes over going.” 

“The girls will be pretty, right?” Eren asked.

Mikasa punched him playfully on the arm.

“You pig.”

“It was a valid question.”

Mikasa rolled her eyes. “You’ll see when we get there. For now, we have to start getting ready. Getting into lolita isn’t the quickest task in the world, you know.”

“Yes, I know. You point that out every time.” Eren replied, following Mikasa into her room so that he could grab the outfit she had bought and set aside for him, in the hopes that she could convince him to join her at one of her “lolita meetups”. She’d succeeded in her goal.  
Mikasa had recently grown fond of Lolita Fashion. She told Eren that she enjoyed feeling particularly feminine every now and then, a contrast from her typical tomboyish exterior. She’d taken to Classic Lolita, although a fair majority of the lolitas in their city of residence took to Sweet style. Sweet had been too much of a stretch for her, so she opted for the more simplistic and elegant style of Classic. Eren thought that Classic suited Mikasa well, although he refused to touch meetups with a ten foot pole on most days. It wasn’t that he had anything better to do, because he didn’t. He spent most meetup days in his room, watching TV, actually. But the idea of sitting around eating sweets with nine other girls clad in poofy dresses had never appealed to him.

But Mikasa had been right; she suffered through all of the stupid activities that Eren enjoyed for the sake of their sibling bond, so the least he could do was let himself be dragged off to a frilly gathering every now and then. And he couldn’t let that snide comment about his ability to attract girls slide, now could he? No. No, he could not.

The outfit Mikasa bought for Eren consisted of a white long sleeved button-down shirt, a black vest with a bunch of silver buttons making two columns along the front, a pair of long black balloon shorts, royal blue and black checkered knee-length socks, a big royal blue bow to go over his shirt, and a black (with royal blue embellishments) top hat to complete the outfit. Eren took a moment to take in the sight of the coordinate laid out in front of him. 

“Mikasa. What the fuck is this.” 

Mikasa sighed.

“I told you. It’s called Kodona. It’s like, “boy style”. It’s what we get the boys we do manage to drag on over to meetups to wear.”

“I’m not wearing that.”

“Oh, come on, it’s not like I bought you a dress. Which I very easily could have done. Besides, this matches my outfit.” She was right about that; her dress was a simple royal blue and black A-line dress without a print along its skirt. The two outfits would complement each other nicely as long as Eren was willing to stop being a little shit and put the damn outfit on.

“I’m not putting that on.”

“The girls will be all over you if you put those clothes on.” 

Eren gave the clothes a second glance. Mikasa noticed and smirked.

“Go ahead, put ‘em on.”

“…I hate you.” Eren muttered, gathering up the clothes into his arms and heading towards his own room so that he could get changed. Lord knew it would take Mikasa forever and a day to get herself ready, anyways. 

Eren took his time pulling on the clothes that were far more elaborate than anything he’d worn before. Finally, he pulled the top hat over his head and gazed at his reflection in front of the bathroom mirror; he’d needed to brush his teeth and everything still. Even though it was already two in the afternoon, he’d just woken up when the meetup conversation began. He decided that Mikasa’s taste wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and he didn’t actually look too bad in the kodona coord that had been picked out for him. Was it something he would want to do on a normal basis? Hell no. Did he hate it as much as he was sure he would? Not really. So that was something.

After a fair chunk of time had passed, Mikasa appeared in the living room, wearing her dress and various accessories. Her bag was shaped like and old fairytale book, bound in white; a tasteful contrast from the dark colors the rest of her outfit consisted of. She scanned Eren up and down as soon as he was within her line of sight.

“You look nice in that, Eren. You should do this with me more often.”

“Don’t count on it.” Eren replied flippantly, ignoring his sister’s compliment entirely. 

With a roll of her eyes, Mikasa grabbed Eren by the wrist and tugged him lightly forward. “Come on, let’s get going, Prince Charming.”

“I better get some fucking food out of this.” 

Mikasa decided that perhaps she shouldn’t have invited Eren along, after all.

-x-

Fifteen minutes after climbing into Mikasa’s car, they pulled into the parking area of a large park right on the city’s outskirts. 

“Alright, we’re here.” Mikasa said, climbing cautiously out of the car, careful not to mess up her complicated outfit in any way. Eren had less to worry about and scrambled hastily out of the car, straightening the top hat on his head once he was completely out.

“Wanna do the thing where you escort me to the others, arm in arm?” Mikasa asked, already knowing the reply she would receive.

“Hell no.” 

“Alright, cool.” Mikasa said, ignoring Eren’s “no” and linking one of her arms with Eren’s. They made their way at a quick pace to a large picnic area filled with girls adorned with colorful dresses and the few boyfriends who could be convinced to come along for the fun. Everyone was chatting amongst themselves but most of them looked up when they noticed the two newcomers. A short blonde girl was the first to approach them; she was one of the few that that was dressed in classic instead of sweet. Of the twenty-or-so people, there were three girls wearing classic (Mikasa included), two in goth, one in country, and the rest were clad in sweet; with the exception of the boys. Two boys, like Eren, were wearing kodona and the other poor soul was wearing typical, everyday clothes; apparently, he couldn’t be convinced to wear anything lavish but hey, at least he’d come to hang out with his girlfriend and her friends.

“Hey, Mikasa.” She said, and Mikasa returned the greeting and added in an introduction to Eren.

“Annie, this is Eren. Eren, this is Annie. She just started coming around recently.”

“Hi.” Annie said, looking a bit bored. Eren wasn’t sure why Annie was even there, to be honest; she seemed much more reserved than the rest of the bunch. Eren decided he liked her and her cool, nonchalant attitude.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Eren said; at least he was being polite, Mikasa thought. 

The three of them spent a moment engaged in idle chat before Mikasa greeted the rest of the group and introduced Eren to everybody. 

Everyone was friendly towards Eren and just like Mikasa had originally said, they all took a liking to the one single boy at their meetup. They complimented his outfit and all fought for his attention, for the most part. There were two girls, however, that did not pay much mind to Eren. While everyone ate ice cream (as a group, they’d gone to an ice cream stand and everybody got something), Eren looked over the two who hadn’t said much to him. They seemed to be the most popular of the group; everyone else naturally gravitated towards them, putting them at the head of the loose circle that had formed along the line.

The first girl was taller than the other by a good few inches. She seemed really nice, although overly enthusiastic. She was one of the few who wasn’t wearing a wig, and instead used her natural hair in her coordinate. Thick brown hair was swept up into a ponytail and adorned with several bows of various pastel colors. According to one of the other girls, her dress was from a place called Angelic Pretty, and Eren decided the name suited its product. She wore thick-rimmed square glasses that were light blue, matching her dress. 

“Hanji, you’re so lucky that you were able to get your hands on Milky Planet!” One of the girls exclaimed, admiring the light blue dress Hanji had chosen to wear. 

The second girl had a much cooler demeanor, which Eren decided was fairly similar to Annie’s. Thus far, Eren had been unable to catch her name. Unlike Hanji, she opted to wear a wig, keeping her natural hair hidden underneath a thick layer of pastel. Her wig was one with thick twintails attached to both sides; it appeared to be the most popular choice of style among the wigs Eren saw that day. She also had a large bow that matched her dress placed on top of her wig. The left half of the wig was light brown and the right half was pastel pink; it had a fringe that almost completely hid her pair of extremely thin eyebrows from sight. Her eyebrows were perpetually furrowed, as far as Eren could tell; it made her look like she was pouting slightly at all times. She had thin lips that acted similarly to her eyebrows; the corners were always turned down slightly, causing her to look too serious even when Eren could tell she was amused by whatever was happening.

Her eyes were narrow and her pupils a pretty light blue-grey color; she hadn’t worn circle lenses like quite a few of the other girls. She had long lashes that Eren quickly realized were fake, but nonetheless, they looked nice on her. After staring at her for several long moments, Eren realized that she was really pretty overall. He decided that she was the prettiest of the group, even. 

The girls surrounding her were currently admiring her dress, and Eren learned that she was apparently wearing a dress called “Sugary Carnival”, also by Angelic Pretty. It was pastel pink and the skirt featured a carousel design comprised of sugary elements, earning it its name. Eren thought he might develop diabetes if he stared at the dress to long, to be quite honest. He had yet to grow used to the onslaught of pastel colors and cute themes of the dresses that the sweet lolitas chose to wore. Although her pastel pink mary janes (complete with little bows on the straps) possessed a fair amount of heel, Eren was still several inches taller than her. Her socks matched her dress, sporting the same candy design as the carousel. They went up to her knees, so only a very limited patch of her legs were bared to the world. She had on a variety of accessories, including a necklace and several pastel colored bracelets. 

“Hey, did you meet Eren yet?” One of the girls that had taken a particular liking to me asked, pointing to me. The girl’s eyes followed the other girl’s finger and landed on Eren, forcing him into direct eye contact. His heart skipped a beat when their faces met; he couldn’t deny that. But despite her extremely feminine qualities, Eren felt that something was slightly off. He couldn’t describe it, but it was there. All that realization did was make him even more intrigued about the girl who seemed so popular among the local lolita crowd. 

“No, I haven’t.” She looked Eren up and down, scrutinizing not only his outfit, but his physical appearance as well. Eren, slightly uncomfortable with the girl’s steady gaze on him, shuffled forward so that he could greet her and (hopefully) start a conversation. 

“Hi, I’m Eren.” 

“Hello, Eren.” She said. Her voice was lower than Eren had been expecting, and it didn’t match up with her outward appearance. It was almost…masculine, Eren decided. The girl continued speaking.

“I’ve never seen you around here before. Which one of the girls dragged you in?” It was obvious to her that Eren hadn’t come of his own accord; he looked completely out of his element in his kodona coordinate and surrounded with frills.

“Mikasa did.” Eren replied sheepishly. 

“Ah, she did mention bringing someone out soon. You’re her brother, then.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, nice to meet you. Hopefully you find it enjoyable enough to come around again.”

“Nice to meet you, too.” Eren didn’t notice that he still didn’t know the girl’s name, and she didn’t offer it. Deciding that he wanted to get to know her, even if only a tiny bit, he resumed speaking.

“Would you like to, uh, go on a walk with me? Or something?” Very smooth, Eren. Very, very smooth. Casanova of the year award goes to Eren Yeager, hands down. 

“Trying to steal me away from the others, I see.” She replied, and Eren assumed he was about to be shot down. However, she took a step forward. “Sure, why not?” 

And so they were off. 

“So, why’d you want my attention?” The girl asked.

“I. Uh. You seemed cool? Also you’re pretty.”

“Great answer. Seriously, fantastic. No wonder you don’t have a girlfriend.” She was far more sarcastic than Eren had anticipated. Her sarcastic tone made her voice sound even more like that of a guy’s, not that Eren would ever make the connection.

“I never said-”

“You don’t have a girlfriend. You wouldn’t be ogling at me if you did. Or at least, I’d sure hope not. Anyways, trust me. I can tell you’re about as single as they come.”

“Okay, well, yeah. It’s true. But, uh, how about a new topic?”

“Sure, go right ahead. Think of something new to talk about, I’m not in a rush.” They walked slowly through the grassy fields that the park consisted of. Some of the other lolitas had also broken off from the main group, and were all absorbed in their own conversations as they all went their own ways.

Eren wracked his brain for a good conversation starter, because he had no clue what to talk about with the intimidatingly pretty (and somehow intimidating in general) girl beside him. He almost laughed when he realized that a suitable topic was right in front of him.

“So, how’d you get into lolita?”

She thought for a minute before responding. 

“I just kind of discovered it on the internet and decided it’d be interesting. I don’t know, I just took a liking to it.” It wasn’t a very specific answer, and Eren wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Oh, I see.” 

“Alright, if you get to ask questions, I do too.”

“Sure.” 

“Hm, what to ask. Oh, how are you enjoying that outfit?”

“It’s, ah. More comfortable than I thought it’d be?”

“You’re a really good brother. That, or a giant pushover. Might be both.”

“Huh? Why?”

“You’re so uncomfortable with all of this. Chill. It’s clothing; no more, no less.”

“Alright.”

The conversation continued, awkward and blunt; most of the awkwardness came from Eren. However, it loosened up after a while. They spent the next couple of hours talking, switching between the subject of lolita and trivial discussions that passed the time. The conversation itself ended up quite enjoyable for the both of them, and their time moved quickly once the conversation took off. Eren was having a great time with the lolita walking beside him, and he even managed to forget that he was also wearing elaborate fashion. They probably looked like a couple as they walked side by side, chatting about whatever next came to mind.

-x-

“I know we just met, but…would you want to catch a movie or something with me sometime?”

“Like a date?” Eren had figured out early on in the conversation that the girl (Who he still hadn’t managed to get a name out of. Dumbass.) was blunt, so her response wasn’t surprising. 

“Well, yeah.” Eren said, dropping his gaze from the girl’s eyes, because eye contact was difficult to keep. Especially under the circumstance of asking out a girl he’d just met.

Amusement was heavy in the girl’s tone when she responded.

“Personally, I’d love to. Although, I don’t believe we’re on the same page.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” 

“You haven’t asked what my name is, you know. Do you know what my name is?”

“Oh, shit. I guess I didn’t really think about it. No, I don’t. What’s your name?” Eren felt like an idiot, asking her out before he even had a name out of her.

“I’m Levi. Nice to meet you.”

“Isn’t that…a guy’s name?”

“Yes. I’m a guy.” 

Eren stared at Levi with his mouth slightly ajar.

“No. No way.” 

“Sorry I didn’t point it out sooner, I guess. It was just amusing that you really had no clue, even though the girls call me by name and everything.”

“No, it’s not even that. It’s just…”

“What?”

Eren’s face heated up when he responded, and he prayed that the heat didn’t cause his face to flush red.

“You’re way too pretty to be a boy.”

Levi laughed.

“So what, you don’t believe that I’m a guy because I’m too pretty?”

“In essence, yes.”

“Good lord. Guys can’t be pretty?”

“Well, I mean, they can, but. Um. Are you positive you’re not a girl?”

“Last time I took a piss, I’m pretty sure I had a dick. I’m not sure, though. Wanna check for me?”

“What the hell happened to being a cute and proper lady?”

“So now you’re saying that not only am I pretty, but I’m cute as well? Today’s a good day.”

“I still think you’re a girl.”

“Jesus christ.” Levi said, looking around and spotting a bathroom a short distance away from them.

“I need to fix my wig. Come into the bathroom with me. Maybe then you’ll actually believe that I’m a guy.”

“Fine.” Eren replied, following Levi into the set of bathrooms in the park, entering the side marked “men’s”.

Levi positioned himself in front of the mirror and took a moment to scan his appearance, making sure that he still looked presentable. Eren stood awkwardly behind him, and after a moment he turned around. Levi grabbed the base of his wig and pulled it off; he shook out his hair in an effort to make it return to its original state since it’d been flattened down by the wig. Once it was settled as much as it could be, Eren was met with a short black undercut with bangs that fell around each side of Levi’s face. Sure enough, it was easier to tell that Levi was, indeed, a guy.

“I’m not lifting up my skirt and showing you my dick, so I hope you believe that I’m a guy now.”

“Uh, yeah. I do.”

Eren wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the girl he’d fallen for in the span of two hours actually being a guy. But both girls and guys had been the object of his affection before, so it wasn’t like it was a huge deal that Levi was a guy. He did have to admit it, though; Levi was obviously attractive, even as the short black-haired guy dressed in a pastel pink dress, standing in front of Eren with his arms crossed. He was hot, girl or guy. 

As if Levi had read Eren’s mind about not caring which gender he was, he spoke. 

“So, does the movie invitation still stand?” 

Eren grinned.

“Sure.”

“That’s good. I have a dress that I think would look perfect on y-” 

“Oh, hell no. Offer revoked.”

“You’ll change your mind.”

“Like hell I will.”

“Fine. No movie.”

“You suck.”

“I do suck, actually. Maybe, if the heavens bless your poor soul, you’ll find out how much I do actually suck.”

“Okay, no. Nope, definitely not. I’m never coming to one of Mikasa’s frill sessions again. Nope.” Eren was one hundred percent done with Levi; whatever he’d been expecting from the pretty lolita girl he’d met a few hours ago, it wasn’t this. God, it wasn’t this. 

“Woah there. Tone down the drama. You’re being worse than half of the girls. And by that, I mean all of the girls.”

“I am not.”

“Sure.”

“Also, I’m not wearing one of your dresses.”

“So what you’re saying is you’re still in a state of desperate longing over getting to see a movie with me?”

“No, I’m saying I’m not wearing a dress.”

“Which was only going to happen in the event of a date.”

"Wait. How old are you?”

“Subject hopping, I see.”

“No, really. I have no clue how old you are.”

“Guess, then.”

“Um.” It was impossible for Eren to tell how old Levi was, and any guess he could have provided would’ve been a shot in the dark.

“Well?”

“Um.”

“Christ. Well, I’m twenty-three. Promptly assure me that you’re at least eighteen.”

“I’m seventeen.”

“That’s not the number I asked for.”

“My birthday’s in, like, a month though.”

“Close enough. Don’t get me arrested, though.”

“It’s just a movie.”

“Of course it is.”

“You’re weird. I take back the movie offer.”

“You already did that, like, two minutes ago.”

“Okay, this time I mean it.”

“Too late for that. Offer’s on the table, so follow through with it. You’re the one in the boy style, after all.”

“Fine. I’m not wearing the dress, though.”

“Jesus, leave the dress thing alone. You’re the only one that keeps bringing it up, you know.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just making sure you understand.”

“Alright. We’ll see.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means “we’ll see”. I don’t even know why I’m saying yes to this shit.”

“It’s. Just. A movie.”

“You can stop saying that.”

The conversation continued in pointless circles until eventually, they’d decided on catching a movie together on Tuesday of the following week. They exchanged phone numbers and promised to call each other later, once they had a chance to look online for what movies were playing currently. From there, they’d decide on a movie together. Levi put his wig back on and made adjustments to his outfit in preparation of returning to the group. Eren was glad that Mikasa had dragged him along to the meetup, because he could very well have just met his future boyfriend. The rest of the meetup passed quickly and before Eren knew it, his first lolita meetup was over.

It wasn’t the last one that he’d attend.

Except next time, he may even attend in a dress.

Or just a kodona outfit.

That would depend on what Levi decided was best for that day, because the next time Eren would go to a lolita meetup, it’d be side by side with Levi.


	2. Weekend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty much just the introductory/background information that I typically put into my longer fics, if only for my own personal reference. As such, not a whole lot happens in this chapter, since it's mainly just to set the stage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I know not all of my readers are familiar with lolita fashion, I figure it's best if I include some of the key terms/definitions in these first couple of chapters as they appear.
> 
> **OP:** Short for "One piece", this is a lolita dress that has sleeves on it, whether they be short or long.  
>  **JSK/Jumperskirt:** A lolita dress just like an OP, however it is sleeveless. Examples right [here](http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/k563/intrinsicallyflorrie/Blog/angelic-pretty-marchen-ribbon-sax-blue-jumperskirt-wonder-story-candy-treat-jsk-lavender.png).  
>  **Petticoat:** A fluffy, tutu-like skirt that is placed under a lolita dress/skirt to give it the "poof" that lolita is known for. Petticoats look like [this.](http://www.clobbaonline.com/web_images/classical_puppets_a-line_petticoat_4.jpg)  
>  **Angelic Pretty:** One of the most popular, well-known lolita brands. Known for its sweet lolita, it really is the ideal sweet lolita aesthetic. Most of Levi and Petra's lolita clothing is from AP.
> 
> Dresses in this chapter:  
> [Dream Sky (in Navy)](http://fuuka.warosu.org/data/cgl/img/0062/87/1349669612953.jpg)  
> [Milky-Chan (in Brown)](http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/this9crimes/46022669/12666/12666_900.jpg)
> 
> Notes on the chapter itself:
> 
> Fun drinking game: Take a shot every time my Levi characterization has drugs involved. Actually, don't do that. It'd be dangerous to your health. I guess you could say it's...an addiction. Oh god. No. That was bad. I'm sorry. 
> 
> I'm actually not entirely sure where this story is going to go, although I have plenty of ideas, so god knows this'll be a long one. So I hope you guys enjoy it despite its extreme amount of self-indulgence. |D <3

“You mean to tell me you spent the whole meetup with him and didn’t even figure out that he was a guy until practically the end?” Mikasa looked at Eren incredulously. 

They’d just gotten back from the meetup; it was around six ‘o clock when they walked through the door. As usual, they had the place to themselves. Their mother had passed away when they were eleven, and their dad was seldom around. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his kids, but work provided him with lengthy hours and sometimes he didn’t even go home at night. Eren and Mikasa didn’t mind; their dad was weird as fuck. He did his best for his kids, but nobody could deny how shady Grisha was. As a result, Eren and Mikasa chose not to pay him much mind.

“Well, it’s not like it was obvious.”

“His name is Levi. The girls said it like eighty times.”

“I didn’t catch that.”

“What the fuck were you doing, then?”

“Good question. I was probably dazed by the sea of frills surrounding me.”

“What the hell is with your aversion to frilly dresses? It’s a weird complex to have.”

“I’m not against the frills. It was just disorienting.”

“Hey, you were totally against the frills.”

“Well, I don’t think they’re that bad.”

“I totally have to know what exactly changed your mind about that in the span of a few hours. Actually, I already know. But I want to hear the story from you, so hold on. I’m gonna get changed.”

Mikasa didn’t wait for Eren to respond before walking out of the kitchen in pursuit of her bedroom, heels clacking against the tile in a steady rhythm. Eren decided it was best to do the same, and quickly made his way to his own room. He turned the lights on and stepped inside, grabbing the top hat off of his head and tossing it onto his unmade bed. He defended himself with the same argument that most teenagers use; why would he make his bed when he would just mess it up again in less than twenty-four hours? 

His room was stunningly average; light-blue walls and off-white carpet and only as much furniture as was necessary. He only had a twin-sized bed, because that was all he needed. His comforter was navy blue as well as his pillows. A large, outdated TV sat on a black TV stand on the opposite side of the room; it was by far the most used item in the room. A ps3 was hooked up to it, although Eren generally spent more time watching TV than actually playing the stack of videogames sitting haphazardly on the floor beside the TV. Also on the floor was a fair amount of Eren’s wardrobe, even though he had a laundry basket in the corner of the room. 

The walls were covered primarily in movie posters; Eren had the habit of obtaining a poster for every movie that he enjoyed. Most recent in his collection was a poster for Pacific Rim, which he’d seen with Mikasa in theaters the day it came out. Eren thoroughly enjoyed watching movies, no matter the genre. Except chick flicks. Those were no. Everything else, however, was fair game.

Eren grabbed a t-shirt and pair of plaid fleece pajama pants to change into, since he didn’t plan on going anywhere else that evening. He slowly stripped himself of the kodona outfit, which took far more effort than he typically had to put into taking clothes off. 

He was the first to return the living room. Mikasa’s outfit required more effort to slip out of, so Eren settled down on the couch and turned on the TV while waiting for his sister to arrive once more. While Mikasa was adopted, she’d been around for a majority of Eren’s life and the only factor that reminded him of her adoptive status was that she still had her old last name of Ackerman. 

They were both seniors at their local high school, a medium-sized average school that was given neutral ratings in every regard. Mikasa was one of the top athletes at the school, but that went unnoticed due to the rest of the sports teams’ shortcomings. They lost to their rival school’s team, the Titans, in every single sport that was played. Eren had no great talent; Mikasa was athletic and his best friend, Armin, was one of the smartest kids in their school, if not the smartest.

Eren had been friends with Armin since before Mikasa was even in the picture; they’d grown up together in every way. Armin was Eren’s only friend until high school, when he finally started making friends with the other kids in his classes. He was the sweetest person that Eren knew, and they’d tried being more than friends before deciding that they were better as tightly-knit best friends. 

While Armin dedicated a fair portion of his life towards academic success, Eren did the opposite. He rarely bothered to haul his backpack home with him after school. It was pointless. He did his homework as often as the rest of the seniors in his school did. Which meant that he never did it. The teachers tired of trying to get the seniors to do literally anything, so they let it slide for the most part. Being a senior was nice, Eren decided.

Mikasa announced her return to the living room by saying, “Alright, tell me all about your boy-crush.” 

Eren rolled his eyes and moved his legs off the couch so that Mikasa could sit down beside him. She’d also gone with the pajama route; when one of them stayed in, the other typically followed suit. 

“He isn’t a “boy-crush”, Mikasa.”

“I believe you told me you’re going to a movie with him in a couple of days.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. It’s just a movie.”

“Then why do you sound irritated?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“You’re not actually blushing, are you? Oh my god, Eren.”

“Of course I’m not blushing.”

“Try not to get a boner when you go to that movie with him.”

“Mikasa.”

“And don’t stick your dick in the popcorn. You’ll scare him off.”

“Mikasa, what the fuck.”

“I’m serious. Do not put your dick in the popcorn on the first date.”

“It’s not a fucking date!”

“You don’t know him that well, you know. No having sex on the first date, you hear m-”

“It’s! Not! A! Date!”

“Your face is bright red.”

“I fucking hate you.”

Television forgotten, their conversation continued just like that for quite some time. Once it finally died off, they threw in a few movies of varying genres and fell asleep together on the couch, a habit that had been formed in childhood. 

-x-

Smoke swirled into a delicate pattern as it escaped pale parted lips in quick bursts, surrounding the cigarette’s holder in a cloudy veil. Levi leaned out of his bedroom’s open window, holding the half-smoked cigarette delicately between two of his slender fingers. His dress had been replaced with a pair of light grey jeans and a black t-shirt; he always made sure to wait until his lolita was off and neatly put away before smoking, because he preferred to keep the two things separated. His hair was still slightly messy from being tucked under the wig for so long and he didn’t bother to put much effort into fixing it since he was alone. 

The small one-story house he lived in was shared with Hanji. They both paid half of the rent, and although they could afford a much more lavish house by now with shared rent, they were plenty content living in their small white house. They each had a medium-sized bedroom that was decorated to suit their individual tastes. While Hanji’s was disorganized and messy, Levi’s was organized to perfection and kept immaculately clean. The two sides of his room served as an antithesis to each other, complete opposites taking up an equal amount of space in the room that Levi called his own. 

The far end of the room in which he was currently positioned fit what most people would imagine the twenty-three year old’s room to be like. Everything was black, white, or a various shade of grey. When Levi first got his room set up, Hanji walked in and said, “I’ll bet you there are fifty shades of grey in here!”

Levi told her to get out.

A queen-sized bed was positioned against the wall on one side of the room, adorned with a black and grey comforter. A large TV hung on the wall opposite of the bed. Below the TV were several stands meant to hold DVDs; they were all full. The carpeting was white and the walls were dark grey.

The other half of the room fit what Eren would have imagined the room of a pretty little lolita girl to possess. Starting at the walk-in closet that Levi’s room had, the second half of the room was an organized chaos of pastel. Levi typically kept his closet doors open, revealing the large collection of lolita dresses that took up most of the closet space; his normal, everyday clothes were kept in his black dresser. Said dresser’s surface was covered with several wig stands, each one holding a different wig. Most of them were pastel colored, similar to the one he’d worn that day; however, he did have two that were natural colored. 

A majority of the dresses in the closet fit the sweet substyle, but a couple matched the gothic lolita aesthetic (from days when he’d still been deciding what look he preferred) and he owned one classic dress. A white vanity covered in makeup and a couple of jewelry boxes sat against the wall beside the closet. A matching white stool sat in front of it.  
While Levi smoked his cigarette and replayed the events of the day (particularly the parts that included Ackerman’s surprisingly attractive brother, Eren) his phone rang. Since he kept conversation with most people to a minimum, he’d never bothered to change his ringtone from the default ring; he used his phone only when necessary. He rarely let people have his number; Eren didn’t realize how lucky he’d been to get Levi’s number so easily. Levi wasn’t entirely sure why he’d so freely given it to the boy he’d just met, but he had a feeling that it was the right decision. Hopefully it was.

The slim black cellphone gave another sharp burst of sound and Levi sighed slightly as he strode over to his bed, where he’d thrown his phone upon entrance in the room. He half expected it to be the overly enthusiastic Eren, but his caller ID told him otherwise.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Levi!” A bright sing-song voice emanated from phone.

“Hi, Petra. What do you need?”

“Are you still planning on coming to dinner tomorrow night?” 

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I dunno. But I just wanted to make sure, ‘cuz I wanted to ask you a question regarding our clothing arrangements.”

“Why, were you wanting to go in lolita?”

“Yeah, I think it’d be a nice idea! And since we have a lot of the same dresses, I figured we could twin it up. It irritates Auruo when we do, which makes it ten times better of an idea.”

“True. Sure, I’ll wear it with you. Doesn’t matter to me. Only casual, though.”

“Sure thing! How about Dream Sky? I haven’t gotten a chance to wear mine much yet, since we just got them a couple weeks ago.”

“That’s fine. I’ll wear a thinner petticoat than I normally do, though. I’ll pair it with the matching socks, but I’m not doing much else in the way of accessories.”

“Alright, I’ll do the same, then! We’re going to look great, I’m already excited. Wanna carpool there?”

“Yeah. I’ll pick you up around six.”

“Sounds good. Thanks for twinning with me, Levi!”

“No problem. I’ve been meaning to wear that dress more often, anyways.”

“Oh, good. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow! Bye!”

“Bye.” 

Levi had known Petra for about four years now, even since he’d started out as an intern at the office that they still worked at to this day. He had four friends at work, but Petra was by far his best and most trusted friend besides Hanji and Erwin. The cheery auburn-haired girl had been the one to introduce Levi to sweet lolita in the first place, starting with the internet. She’d desperately wanted to join the number of girls choosing to wear their poofy dresses but had been too shy to do so up to that point. She’d been hesitant to even show Levi the fashion, fearing he’d think it was stupid. 

His reaction was quite the opposite; he thought the colorful clothing would suit Petra perfectly. She was still hesitant about such an uncommon choice in fashion, since if she was going to go through with it, she planned on being a lifestyle lolita. Knowing Petra wouldn’t have a single regret once she put one of those dresses on for the first time, Levi made her a deal. 

If Petra would go ahead and buy an outfit, Levi would buy the exact same one and wear it alongside Petra. She’d looked at him with mouth agape in genuine shock at the offer. 

“You’d wear a dress for me?”

“Of course. It’s just clothing.”

“Well, yeah, but…we’ll really stand out! And you’re a guy.”

“Like I said, it doesn’t matter. It may stand out, but it’s just clothing. Besides, I’m small enough to look like a girl, anyways.” 

Levi didn’t expect to end up genuinely enjoying wearing the dresses and wigs that caused him to easily be mistaken for a girl. But when his and Petra’s first dresses had arrived, he really did fall in love with the fashion just as much as Petra had. The feminine fashion suited him well, and he felt far more natural in it than he’d been expecting.

Their first coordinates matched almost completely; the only difference was their hair. Petra hadn’t gone for a wig right away, while Levi had. Their first dress was Angelic Pretty’s Milky-Chan dress in brown, and they’d used pink accessories in their coordinates. Levi’s first wig was light-brown and relatively long, styled into loose curls. They went to their first meetup together, and Levi always offered to wear lolita with Petra whenever she wanted to wear it in public; the situations where they would be the only two wearing lolita.

Levi had no shortage of money. His mom had died; she killed herself while intoxicated. His dad was wealthier than fuck, and had tried to use money to make up for Levi’s mother’s shortcomings. Levi had told his dad on plenty of occasions that he didn’t need the money since he’d gotten a steady job but his dad wasn’t inclined to listen. However, it did mean that Levi was able to buy any lolita that he wanted. He bought Petra lolita things on plenty of occasions; she didn’t have nearly as much money to play with as he did.

Speaking of money, it was probably a good thing that Petra had introduced Levi to a positive way to spend his time and money. He’d taken a liking to cocaine that had begun to become more than just recreational usage. Although he was a naturally strong person, he’d been through a lot of shit in his life and that had begun to take its toll. His friends were likely to step in, had Petra and him not gotten into lolita fashion together. But fortunately, lolita had proved to be the perfect outlet for Levi and he distanced himself from the drugs that he liked just a little too much.

Once off the phone, Levi spent the rest of the evening lounging around in his room. Hanji was off with Mike (whom she refused to admit she had romantic feelings for) and he doubted that she’d be coming home that night. He toyed with the idea of texting Eren, but decided against it. There was no way in hell he was willing to come off as desperate, especially towards an awkward yet somehow endearing seventeen year old boy.

-x-

Levi didn’t sleep all that much, because he liked being awake at night. Since his office hours didn’t allow for sleeping in, he sacrificed getting sufficient amounts of sleep each night. In turn, he slept quite a bit during the weekends, often not crawling out of bed until after two in the afternoon, the exception being days with meetups or plans with Petra, Auruo and the others. And so on Sunday, it was damn near three ‘o clock before he presented his face to the light of day. Hanji was sitting at the kitchen table reading a science magazine when he appeared in the kitchen yawning and stretching, wearing only a pair of boxers.

“Good morning, sunshine!” Hanji chirped, glancing up from her magazine to give Levi an enthusiastic smile.

“Yeah.” Levi replied, heading straight for the coffee pot they kept on the counter.

“Big plans for the day?” 

“Dinner with the others later, but that’s about it. How about you?” 

“Mike and I are going to hit a movie later, but that’s about it.”

“Mm.” Levi replied, pouring coffee into a mug and sitting across from Hanji at the table. It was safe to say that he was still more asleep than he was awake, but the coffee helped. He texted Petra throughout the afternoon, but other than that, he didn’t do much. Once five ‘o clock rolled around, he got up off the couch and got ready. 

As promised, he grabbed one of his thinnest, toned-down petticoats to put underneath his Dream Sky OP; he had it in the navy colourway while Petra had it in lavender. His knee socks had the same shooting star pattern as the dress itself. He wore white shoes with little bows on the straps, knowing that Petra would choose those shoes as well. His wig was the light-brown one that was styled into loose curls. Lastly, he put on his usual makeup; however, he skipped the false eyelashes this time. When he was satisfied with his appearance, he glanced at the clock. It was just about time to pick Petra up, so he texted her and went on his way. 

Petra waited outside of her house for Levi to arrive; she’d been sitting on the front steps. Once Levi pulled into the driveway with his black Porsche (that was kept so clean that people always assumed it was new, even though that definitely wasn’t the case) she got up and practically bounced over to his car, auburn hair blowing around her face due to the wind. Her outfit was identical to Levi’s other than the difference in colourway. 

“Hi, Levi!” She said, cheery as always. Some people were surprised that Levi and Petra spent so much time together with such differing personalities; others made use of the phrase “opposites attract”. Had all of the people Levi knew not known that he was gay, it was likely they’d assume him and Petra were together. And although she had admitted to having feeling for Levi, Petra understood that those feelings would never be reciprocated. As luck would have it, she appeared to be developing a certain fondness for Auruo despite all of their conversations being based around bickering. Everyone knew that Auruo had fallen hard for Petra, so their future looked as bright as Petra’s fashion choices. 

“Hi, Petra.” Levi responded, pulling back out of the driveway and beginning on the familiar route to the restaurant that they frequented. They always started out sitting at the bar, eventually migrating over to an actual dinner table for the rest of their evening. Levi was heavily acquainted with the owner who commonly doubled as one of the bartenders. Erwin was the owner and Hanji was a waitress; Mike was a waiter as well.

“So, what’d I miss at yesterday’s meetup?”

“Ackerman finally got her brother to join us for the day. Other than that, not a whole lot.”

“Ah, okay. How was he? Did you talk to him at all, or did you ignore him like you ignore most people?”

“Hey, fuck off. You know I talk to people at meetups more than I talk to people in most situations.”

“I’m just kidding! Stop being so serious. Oh wait, you’re Levi. You can’t. But answer the question!”

“Yeah, I did talk to him. His name is Eren and I spent a fair majority of the afternoon with him.”

“Oh my god, are you serious?”

“No, I said that because I thought it’d be hilarious.”

“Well, I think it is hilarious! Do you like him?” 

“We’re twenty-three years old. I don’t think we need to say “like” anymore. And we only talked for a few hours, it’s not like I know him that well.”

“Okay, fine. But really! What was he like?”

“Like I said, his name is Eren. I don’t know his last name, because I know it’s different from Mikasa’s. He has messy brown hair and is quite a bit taller than me, which isn’t surprising, I know. He’s awkward in a strangely and irritatingly endearing way. He likes to talk a lot even if it’s an agonizingly awkward conversation that goes in a circle. He’s the exact type of person I would hate and I’m actually quite put out over the fact that I found him very much tolerable. Oh, Ackerman had him in a kodona coord that matched her own dress. He pulled it off way better than I would have thought he would.”

Petra giggled and tried to cover it up with a very much fake cough.

“What the hell are you laughing about?”

“You!”

“No, really? Wouldn’t have guessed.”

“It’s just. It’s odd! You’re talking about this guy a lot already and it’s just weird to hear. It’s not normal for you. What’s so different about him?”

“Calm down. It’s not like I can’t find people less irritating than others.”

“True, but it’s not like you. But I won’t make you explain yourself, ‘cuz you’re Levi. Oh! How old is he?”

“Seventeen. Eighteen in a month, according to him.”

“Woah. Woah, really?”

“Really.”

“You’d really go for somebody younger than you? By, like, six years?”

“Nobody said I was going for him.”

“I thought you only liked guys who are older than you!”

“I- you know what. We’re moving on to a new subject. How was visiting your dad?” 

Petra grinned at Levi’s determination to shift the subject away from his afternoon with Eren, but went along with it. 

“It was good. He was really excited to see me. I miss him quite a bit, to be honest. We had a great time! Still wish I could have made the meetup, though. Oh, and he thinks that lolita is really nice on me! I was pretty happy about that, because I thought he’d cast it off as weird and an insane waste of money.”

“I’m not surprised he received it well, to be honest. Your dad really cares about you and I’m sure he noticed how happy you are in it.”

“True. Still, it was nice.”

“I’m glad.” Levi pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot, parking in one of the stalls right in front. Both occupants of the car got out and shook out their dresses, adjusting as necessary before striding into the popular restaurant. The three other members of their group were waiting for them by sitting at the bar; Auruo, Erd, and Gunter filled three consecutive seats. Erwin was bartending that night and waved at the similarly dressed lolitas. Once they were within a close distance, he addressed them.

“Do you guys wanna sit over here and have a few drinks or go for dinner right away?”

Everyone looked expectantly at Levi. Somehow, he’d become the ringleader of their group; they listened to his every word and automatically looked to him to answer their questions, no matter the subject matter. As such, it was meant for him to decide whether they would eat right away or not. Levi weighed his options for a moment before deciding that he was hungry enough to eat. Besides, if they ate, they could spend the rest of their Sunday night talking and drinking. As long as nobody drank enough to wake up with a wicked hangover, they’d be good. 

All of them worked at the same office building; although they’d all started roughly around the same time, Levi had climbed ranks faster than any of them. That might have been the reason the rest of them looked up to Levi so much; he excelled at whatever work threw at him naturally. Levi had pretty much hand-picked his friends at work, and they’d all come together with ease, as if they were meant to share a close bond. Since Levi really wasn’t all that open with people, it was a big deal for him to have a steady ring of companionship. 

“We’ll have dinner first, I suppose.” Levi said and Erwin nodded. Erwin led them over to the table that they almost always occupied; a table set in the corner, slightly away from everybody else. They seldom needed menus since they all typically stuck to the same dishes. Erwin put their order in for them out of memory after they all reported that they wanted their usuals.

Erwin bent down slightly so that he could talk in Levi’s ear, a habit that he’d formed over time. 

“You look lovely tonight, Miss Levi.” His devilishly sultry tone was unwelcome to Levi’s ears. While Erwin respected their conflict of interests, he still tried to get his way with Levi on occasion. Tonight was no exception.

“Shut up, Erwin. Horny old bastard.”

“That wasn’t very nice of you.”

“Didn’t need to be. Leave me and my fluffy fuckin’ petticoat alone. You know how I feel about things.”

Erwin sighed and a slight crease appeared on his forehead from the way he frowned. Sullen reminiscence of old memories began to seep through him as he stared at the man who he used to be so close to, now clad in pastel colors and almost beyond recognition as Levi. If not for the distinctive facial features of Levi’s face, it was likely he wouldn’t recognize him at all. They had lost their spark and that chapter of their life had ended, and while they’d both moved on just fine the memories still caught up with them now and then. 

“Yes, I do indeed know quite well. My apologies, Levi.”

“Oi, don’t go apologizing. Idiot.”

Erwin smiled. That reminded him that the feminine presence before him really was Levi.

“Ah, it’s getting busy over at the bar. I’ll be off. Talk to you later?”

“It’s not like you need an invitation to come talk to us. Or rather, me.”

“One never knows with you.”

Levi was about to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean, but Erwin was already walking away. With a small sigh, he turned his attention to the group of four sitting around him.

Auruo and Petra were intently focused on one of their typical bickering sessions.

“It’s not like you’re one to talk about fashion! What the hell do you think you’re doing with that hair of yours, anyways?” She swatted at his hair with playful irritation. His naturally wavy hair was styled into an undercut strikingly similar to Levi’s.

“It looks great, don’t try to deny it.”

“I’m going to try and deny it.”

“Shut up, you two.” Erd said, yawning as he grabbed the bottle of beer that he’d obtained over at the bar. Levi and Petra were waiting on glasses of wine; everyone else had beer.

“Long night?” Gunter asked in reference to Erd’s yawn.

“Fiancée decided we weren’t allowed to go to bed until half the goddamn wedding was planned, basically.”

“That’s rough.” Gunter took a large swig of his beer.”

“Damn right. She’s freaking out, even though we have plenty of time left to plan.”

“I’ll pray for you.”

“Thank you, my good man.” 

Noticing that Erwin had left, they turned to Levi. 

“So, what’s up with you?”

“Nothing like planning a wedding, that’s for sure.” Levi replied as a waitress set a wine glass in front of him.”

“Didn’t you have one of your poofy dress parties yesterday? How’d that go?” Erd asked.

Petra tore herself away from her argument with Auruo at the mention of yesterday’s meetup.”

“He met a boy!”

“Oh? Tell us about him, Levi.” 

“I hate you, Petra.”

“No, you don’t. You couldn’t hate your lolita twin, could you?”

“Watch me.”

“Oh, lighten up. You’re the one who bought us these dresses in the first place, remember.”

“Guys.” Gunter interjected, “Back to the point. Levi. Boy. Meet.” 

“Alright, since everybody is so fucking interested. I met a kid named Eren. Yes, a kid, because he’s only fucking seventeen years old. He was too goddamn hot for his own good and we talked for a few hours, and then like the rash little fuck he seems to be, he invited me to see a movie with him while he still thought that I was a girl. I thought for sure I’d scare him off once he realized that I really was a guy, but somehow it didn’t. No, he still wants to go to this fucking movie. And I said yeah. Because. I have no clue, actually. But I did, and here we are.” Once Levi’s speech was done, he took a long drink from his wineglass. 

“…Seventeen?” They all said unanimously; out of everything that Levi said, literally the only thing that caught their attention was the word “seventeen”.

"I’m leaving. Bye.” Levi got up from his seat and actually began walking away from the table.

“Oh, jesus christ, Levi. Get back here.” Gunter was laughing, as was Erd. Petra was hiding her giggling fit behind her hand, not doing a very good job of it.

“Overreacting, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not.”

“You just walked away from the table.”

“I have to piss.” The look that Levi gave everyone was enough to tell them to change the topic. They all sighed lightheartedly and began to discuss other matters. The evening passed by quickly and around eleven ‘o clock, they decided it was best to get home and prepare for the oncoming Monday. After dropping Petra off, Levi headed straight home. Hanji was there, so the two of them chatted for a good few hours while sitting on the couch; Hanji was a night-owl just like Levi, making them ideal roommates. 

A few minutes after midnight, Levi remembered that he’d kept his phone on silent for a majority of the day. He checked it under the assumption that there’d be no new texts or calls, since he’d seen pretty much everyone he normally talked to within the past couple hours. His phone, however, told him otherwise.

He didn’t recognize the number on the screen, but it still seemed familiar. There was only one phone number that matched such criteria.

_[473-372-1982]_

_Hi, is this levi? I hope I got the number right. This is Eren_

Levi read over the short text a couple of times before replying. He’d sent the text a few hours ago, and a glance at the clock told him that the kid was probably already asleep. It didn’t feel right to ignore the text, however, and so he replied despite that. 

_Yeah, you got the number right. Sorry for not replying earlier_

Once the reply was sent, he added Eren’s number into his contact list. He had the feeling he’d be using that number more than once.

He didn’t expect to receive a reply. He didn’t expect it to come as fast as it did, either.

_[Eren]_

_Its okay! Is it alright for me to text you?_

Too bashful for his own good, Levi thought. Hanji looked at him with curiosity as he promptly typed away on his phone, responding to Eren as quickly as Eren had responded to him.

_Sure, do what you want. I don’t care._

_[Eren]_

_Am I annoying you?_

_[Levi]_

_No, youre not. Don’t worry about it._

_[Eren]_

_Okay. Are we still on for the movie on Tuesday?_

_[Levi]_

_Of course._

_[Eren]_

_Okay good. Im about to go to bed so do you mind if we talk about it tomorrow?_

_[Levi]_

_That’s fine, talk to you tomorrow_

_[Eren]_

_Okay cool! Goodnight_

_[Levi]_

_Goodnight._

Levi threw his phone back onto the coffee table positioned a few feet in front of him. Hanji looked up from the TV as he did so.

“Who was that?”

“Eren.”

“Oh, the boy from yesterday? I thought it might be.”

“You and everybody else.”

“Huh?”

“Everyone is quite obsessed with yesterday’s happenings, apparently.”

“Ha! I’m not surprised.”

“You shut up.”

Hanji grinned and leaned into Levi. They watched TV together and Hanji ended up falling asleep up against Levi; he continued staring at the TV until sleep finally found him around four in the morning. When he woke up, it’d be just another shitty Monday.

-x-

Although Eren’s group of friends originally had plans for getting together and going out on Sunday, they all unanimously decided they were too lazy and all opted to spend their time wearing pajamas in their own respective living spaces. Mikasa and Eren were no exception to the rule; Eren lay sprawled out on the couch while Mikasa settled herself on the loveseat. 

He’d been thinking about calling Levi all day, but decided against it each time. By the time he summoned up the courage to initiate contact with him (assuming Levi had given him the right number in the first place), he decided that texting was a much better (easier) option. His heart felt slightly heavy when he didn’t receive a reply even after a few hours. He jumped to the conclusion that either Levi had purposely given him a wrong number or had purposefully ignored his text. 

“What’s wrong?” Mikasa asked when she noticed Eren staring worriedly at his phone.

“Nothing.”

“Liar. Did you text him?”

“He’s not replying.”

“How long has it been?”

“A few hours.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Right as Eren said it, his phone vibrated, announcing a new text. Eren stared down at the illuminated screen and Mikasa grinned. 

“So he did reply, didn’t he?” 

“Yeah, apparently.” Eren glanced at the time on his phone; the day had completely escaped him. He finally read the reply and his unfortunate heart skipped a beat over Levi apologizing for not responding earlier. He wasn’t aware of how tired he was or how heavy his eyelids were until he was conversing with Levi. As much as he would have liked to text him all night, he decided that it was time for bed; he could make the movie arrangements tomorrow. 

With Levi’s goodnight text as his lullaby, Eren fell asleep on the couch after only a few moments. Mikasa carried him off to bed; a common occurrence in their household.

Remembering how lolita had introduced Annie into her life, Mikasa thought about how good lolita was at bringing people together, because Eren had taken an obvious liking to the prettiest lolita in their group.


	3. Not Lolita, Basically

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I apologize for the lack of lolita in this chapter. I don't know what happened. OTL.
> 
> Also, I keep telling myself this is going to be a nice, short fic without plot or anything like that. Needless to say, I'm already failing. Oh well.
> 
> In any case, enjoy~!

Seven ‘o clock rolled around far too quickly for Eren’s satisfaction and a very large part of him felt like throwing his phone at the wall when his alarm went off, announcing the beginning to another fine Monday morning at school. School had only been going on for about a month; the weather was stuck in the state of needing a sweatshirt in the morning but dying of heat in the same sweatshirt once afternoon hit. As such, when Eren finally dragged his ass out of bed, he ended up staring at the contents of his closet blankly, unsure of what to put on. His still-asleep mind refused to process the logic that he could easily take off a sweatshirt if he got too hot.

The end result was a black t-shirt with a light grey zip-up hoodie and pair of light blue jeans. Mikasa’s outfit was strikingly similar, except her sweatshirt was white and she wore a bright red scarf around her neck. It was rare for her to be seen without it, although nobody was quite sure why. After a rushed breakfast (due to sleeping late paired with taking too long to get ready), the siblings piled into Mikasa’s red car and made it to school on time by going sixty-five in the twenty-five zones. For the sake of gas conservation they always rode to school together, and this week was Mikasa’s turn for driving. 

The school day was boring and unbearably slow in passing up until the last hour of the day; the only class that everyone in Eren’s group of friends was in. They made up over half of the class’s population, which was entirely on purpose. They’d all mutually agreed to sign up for watercolors since not many people signed up for it ever, which meant that it only ran for one hour and as long as the rest of the scheduling worked out, it was the perfect opportunity for them to hang out at the end of the day without fail. As luck would have it, scheduling went flawlessly and each one of them occupied classroom 104 during ninth hour. 

Their teacher, an aging man by the name of Pixis, was more than content to let them do whatever they wanted as long as they managed to get their paintings done at some point or other. He didn’t feel the necessity for the “Mr.” suffix so they all just called him by his last name after deciding calling him by first name was a bit too odd. He sat at the front of the room and made sure his room didn’t burn down from letting a group of irresponsible teenagers. Once in a while, he made a half-assed attempt at teaching the kids a new technique or giving them a new assignment that would never get done. He understood that none of them actually gave a single shit about painting, and so ninth hour was as good as a free-for-all.

Eren and Mikasa had their eighth hour class (government, the required social studies course for seniors) so they were able to walk to watercolors together. They were the last ones to arrive; all of the others were already seated at the long, rectangular wooden table stationed closest to the large windows. 

“Hi, guys!” one of the kids said; Marco. He had short black hair and quite a few freckles were spread across his face. He was by far one of the sweetest in their group, and everybody adored him. Seated next to him was Jean, a boy with light brown hair that got darker near the bottom. With a cocky attitude and the tendency to pick as many fights as Eren (typically, they picked them with each other), he was Marco’s opposite. There was speculation, however, that they were dating. Everybody assumed they were since they were side by side at all times, although they’d never outright said anything regarding their relationship status thus far.

Across from them were an incredibly short girl with shoulder length blonde hair and a freckled girl with short brown hair; Christa and Ymir, respectively. They’d been dating since the beginning of high school, and anybody who even tried to give them shit about it Ymir. The main people who disapproved of their relationship were a large population of men that simply wanted Christa for themselves. However, Ymir was more than willing to strike fear into their hearts, and thus their relationship was respected by all. 

Beside Christa and Ymir were Connie and Sasha. Connie, the shortest guy in their group, had a crew-cut and a very interesting (ridiculous) sense of humor. Sasha had long brown hair that she kept swept up into a messy ponytail and it was uncommon to see her without some sort of food out. At the moment she had a bag of chips (not one of the snack sized bags. No, she had full-sized bag of chips in class) that she was sharing with Connie. They both spent their time together laughing at horridly stupid jokes and laughing at everything in general. At least they had one hell of a good time of life together. Like Marco and Jean, their relationship was not solidly defined although speculation was high.

Typically, Armin would be occupying one of the seats at the table along with everyone else. This week, however, he was on vacation with his grandfather; an annual trip to Alaska that they took every year. He left the previous afternoon and wouldn’t be back until next Monday. Eren already missed having the blonde around, but he knew that the trip was something that Armin looked forward to each year. Earlier that morning he’d texted Armin a final “have fun!” text, and Armin’s reply had been full of happy enthusiasm. Eren would make sure and text Armin quite a bit while he was away, because even just a week was a killer amount of time for best friends.

“Hey, Marco.” Eren said as he and Mikasa took their usual seats beside Jean and Marco. 

“How are you guys today?” Connie was the one who spoke. 

“Tired.” Eren yawned.

“Us too. Last night was a late night, wasn’t it, Christa-” Ymir grinned as she spoke, casually moving her arm so that she could put it around Christa’s shoulder.

“Stop it right there.” Jean interrupted. “We don’t need to hear about that.”

“You’re just jealous ‘cuz you haven’t gotten laid lately.” Ymir retorted. She didn’t even know if it was true; there was probably a fifty-fifty shot that he’d done Marco. 

Jean’s response, however, made it obvious that Ymir had struck the nerve she’d hoped to.

“Hey, now! You don’t know that.”

Ymir’s grin widened; she said nothing.

Jean made an attempt at recovery. “Aha, anyways. Speaking of not getting laid lately, Eren, how are you doing on that front?”

Eren frowned. He’d had the premonition that Jean would target him, but even though he’d been expecting it, he hadn’t thought of a comeback. They all knew that Eren hadn’t been with anybody lately, whether it be a serious relationship or a hookup at a party. 

Luckily, Mikasa came to the rescue.

“Shut up, Jean, we all know Eren’s gotten laid way more times than you have, so you’re really not one to talk, now are you? Unless you suddenly have a bout of experience you didn’t tell us about. But knowing you, we would have heard all about it.” 

Jean’s expression was a mixture of horror and resentment (everyone else ranged from grinning to outright laughing) because he knew it was true. For whatever reason, people really were attracted to Eren and his messy brown hair and lack of grace when it came to relationships. He’d been with plenty of girls and guys, just not lately. It wasn’t that he couldn’t find anyone; that wasn’t the case at all. Perhaps he was craving a relationship that was meant to last for longer than a month, which few were willing to offer him. 

“Alright, I think we’re done with that! What’s everyone doing tonight?” Connie said, grabbing a chip from Sasha’s bag.

“We’re free!” Marco replied for both Jean and himself; Jean was still stewing in anger with his shoulders tense and his arms crossed.

“We’re open to hang out, too.” Ymir said, and Christa nodded.

Sasha didn’t need to answer since Connie very likely already knew her answer, which left Mikasa and Eren to answer. 

Mikasa and Eren exchanged a glance and shrugged. “We don’t have anything to do, either.” Mikasa replied for them. 

“We should all totally hang out, then.” Connie said. “But who wants to host tonight?” 

“Well, if you were hoping to get wasted, we can’t. Parents.” Marco said. 

“Yeah, same.” This time it was Christa that spoke.

Eren knew that the chances of his dad coming home before their gathering was over were extremely slim. Even if he did come home, he doubted his dad would even care. Actually, he had no clue what his dad would say if he came home to find a bunch of kids heavily intoxicated on a school night. After a moment’s consideration he concluded that he didn’t really care. Eren nudged Mikasa with his elbow as a way to communicate his idea; she nudged back and that was enough to tell Eren that she agreed. Unspoken communication was common for them. 

“We have the house to ourselves, so all of you could come over to our place. Bring whatever booze you want to drink, though, because I have no clue how stocked the cabinet is right now. It’s weird. Sometimes there’s a shit ton and suddenly it’s all gone. So yeah if you want booze to be guaranteed bring it yourself.”

“Oh, that’s right; I forgot your dad isn’t around much. Why don’t we go to your place more often?” Christa enquired, looking thoughtful. 

“Good question. I don’t know. But you can all come over tonight if you want.”

“That’s a good idea. We’ll be there.” Ymir said.

“Us too!” Was Connie’s response.

“Sure, why not?” Marco said with a smile.

Jean was calmed down, so he even added in, “Yeah, sounds good.” 

In the midst of making plans, it escaped Eren’s mind that he had to call Levi later. The rest of the class passed quickly in a whirlwind of conversation and music (they convinced Pixis to put music on through his laptop each day, to which he readily obliged). Before they knew it, the afternoon announcements were on and it was time to head home. The bell sounded its shrill tone and masses of kids flooded the hallways in a mad rush to get out of hell. Eren’s group of friends weren’t in as much of a rush, slowly getting up from their seats and lingering longer than necessary in the watercolors room. When goodbyes were finally being uttered, Eren spoke as well.

“Oh, hey, what time do you all plan on rolling around?”

“Five? Five sounds good.” Sasha said, rolling up the now-empty bag of chips into a ball so that she could throw it away on her way out. 

Everyone else agreed and promised to show up at Eren and Mikasa’s around five. They also made plans to order pizza, because it wasn’t like a group of eight seventeen/eighteen year olds were about to sit around and make a dinner together. It just wasn’t about to happen. Besides, cooking with a bottle in hand probably wouldn’t have proven to be a good situation. Unless they were trying to burn the house down, in which case, they could have gone for it. 

-x-

“Eyyyy party time, losers.” Jean said when he arrived alongside Marco, carrying a case of beer and bottle of liquor that Eren didn’t quite catch the name of. 

“You call us losers and yet you’re here, so what does that say about you?”

“Suck a dick, Yeager.” 

“I wouldn’t mind. Not yours, though. Never again.”

“You fucking wish you’d be blessed with the opportunity of sucking my heavenly dick again.”

“Shut the fuck up, Jean.” Ymir had arrived, one hand holding a bottle of her favorite liquor and the other holding onto Christa’s delicate hand. “Microscopic objects can barely be considered heavenly.”

“Ymir, have you actually ever seen a dick?”

“Is it possible to go through life without seeing a dick? What are we, five?” Ymir retorted.

“As lovely of a topic as cock is, I think we can move on and get into the living room and chug the first round of drinks.” Connie said; Sasha and he had appeared in the doorway somewhere along the line. 

“Amen.” They all said, grabbing their drinks of choice and making themselves at home in the living room. 

“So should we order pizza now or later?” Sasha asked.

“Let’s order it now.” 

“Yeah!”

“Sounds good.”

Since Eren and Mikasa were hosting, Mikasa grabbed her phone and called Pizza Hut. They ordered a few different pizzas and sat around, waiting for its arrival. Twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Mikasa hurried up from her seat so she could grab their pizzas from the delivery guy.   
When she opened the door, she was met with a tall guy with blonde hair and a fair amount of muscle underneath his Pizza Hut uniform. Vague recognition sparked in his eyes when he got a good look at Mikasa.

“Hey, are you by chance Mikasa?”

“Yeah? Why?” 

“I’m Reiner, one of Annie’s friends.”

“Oh, yeah, she talks about you and…Bertholdt? Quite a bit.”

“Annie talks about you all the time. It’s nice to finally meet the one she doesn’t shut up about.” He smiled, handing her the boxes of pizza.

Mikasa felt heat rise in her face when Reiner pointed out how much Annie talked about Mikasa, because it was apparently a common occurrence. 

“Nice to meet you too.”

“We should hang out sometime. Annie thinks pretty highly of you.” 

“Yeah, sure. I’d be up for that. I’ll talk to Annie about it soon.”

“A’ight a’ight. Well, I have a bunch of runs to make tonight, so I must be off. Bye, my house!”

Mikasa rolled her eyes at the tragically overused joke and waved Reiner off, turning around and going back through the door with the pizzas in tow. 

“The hell took you so long? Make best friends with the pizza guy or what?” Connie asked.

“Something like that.” Mikasa said as she set down the warm cardboard boxes.

Five minutes passed and they were all comfortably settled in the living room with their chosen pizza slices. Eren, Mikasa, and Sasha sat on the couch. Connie sat cross-legged on the carpet in front of the sofa; Ymir was also sitting on the floor with Christa perched in her lap. Marco and Jean sat together on the love seat. 

Since everyone was focused on eating, silence filled the air that was only broken by the sound of people chewing. 

“I’m turning on the TV. It’s too quiet.” Eren said, grabbing the remote from the coffee table. Everyone voiced their agreement and they flipped through the stations together in an effort to find something they could all agree on. 

“Is That ‘70s Show okay? That’s literally the only thing on.”

“Hell yeah! Favorite show, right there!” Connie shouted.

“You’re a dork.” Sasha said. “But I’m up for it.”

“You lame-ass hoes.” Jean snorted, rolling his eyes. What did he want to watch? We just don’t know. He was probably expecting porn. The poor guy. 

“Shut up, Jean.” It was truly beautiful, the sound of seven people’s distinct voices all coming together to tell one individual to shut up.

It was practically six ‘o clock, so they turned the TV on just in time for a new episode. The theme song that everyone knew so well started to play. Connie was the first to start singing to it.

“Hangin’ outtt, down the streettt!” He was so enthusiastic that the others couldn’t help but join in. By the second line, they were all shouting it together.

“The same old thinggg, we did last week!” 

They sang the rest of it together in unison, even Jean. Everyone was grinning when it finished and the actual episode started. They resumed eating their pizza, chatting rapidly as they did so. They trash-talked their teachers, talked about what they’d done last weekend, and Ymir had to be stopped on several occasions before getting too far into detail about her and Christa’s nightly affairs. When drinks ran low, they were replenished. Laughter was the dominant sound in the room. Tongues were loosened as alcohol hit them. 

Time passed them by quickly. Speech no longer possessed clarity; it was replaced with half-understandable slurs. Limits were ignored and bottles emptied over and over. For a school night, it was one hell of a time. Conversations jumped from topic to topic without warning. At one point, Christa realized that they were indeed still obligated to attend school the next morning.

“Hey, guys? This is fun but do we really want to deal with hangovers in school?” Christa asked sheepishly, staring at her drink.

“Honey, we’ll skip school if we feel like shit in the morning.” Ymir replied. 

“Don’t you think the school will be suspicious if eight of us take off of school, though?” 

“Hey, if you want to go to school hung-over, good for you. Or you can stop drinking now and not have one in the morning. Your choice.” 

“…No, I’m good.” Christa decided, leaning back into Ymir, who tightened her grip around Christa’s waist.

As Eren took another significant chug of his drink, he remembered that he had something to do. He couldn’t quite remember what it was, however.

“Oh, hey! Did I tell you guys Eren went with me to one of my lolita meetups?”

“Ha? What are those again?” Jean asked, shooting Mikasa a look of drunk confusion. 

“It’s where girls that are way out of your league wear pretty dresses.” 

“If I wasn’t gay, I’d be offended.”

“You should be offended anyways, asshole.” Mikasa retorted, rolling her eyes.

“Anyways! Eren, you went to one of those party things?” Sasha inquired; she was the only one still eating pizza.

Eren was opening his mouth to reply, but Mikasa beat him to it.

“Yeah, he did! And he happened to meet somebody. A boy. A man, actually, because he’s twenty-three.”

“Oh, my god. You’re kidding.” Ymir laughed, but Eren gave her a look and she reconsidered. “Wait, you’re serious?”

“Yeah, we’re serious! His name is Levi and they’re going on a date tomorrow. Aren’t ‘cha?” Mikasa nudged Eren with her elbow and raised her drink to him with a wink when he shot her a look. 

“I call bullshit.” Jean was, of course, the source of the statement.

Eren’s emotions elevated at a faster pace when he was drunk, and he fiercely refuted Jean’s snarky comment. 

“It’s not bullshit, fucker!” Eren shouted.

“Calm, Eren.” Mikasa placed a hand of warning on Eren’s shoulder.

“Aw, come on Eren! You know you could never get a twenty-three year old to even look at you!”

“The hell I couldn’t!”

“Shut up, idiot!”

“Fucking make me!” Eren got up from his seat on the couch and attempted to walk over to Jean (it was more stumbling than anything). 

“Oh, you wanna fight me now? Bring it on!”

“Guys! Do you even remember what you’re fighting about?” Christa shouted desperately; her comment was left ignored. 

“Damn right, I’ll fight you! And win!”

Marco tried to stop Jean from getting up but failed. The two feuding seventeen year olds closed the distance between each other and punches were about to be thrown when Mikasa crashed into them.

“Cut it out, you two!” She screamed, pulling them away from each other. Since she was more athletic than the both of them combined, it wasn’t a difficult task. Especially when both of them were struggling to walk straight in the first place.

Ymir threw in commentary of her own. “Jesus, you two. You’ve fucked each other before, the least you could do is stop looking for reasons to beat the shit out of each other.” Ymir’s alcohol tolerance was far higher than any of the other’s, so her speech was barely slurred. Unlike everybody else’s. 

She wasn’t wrong; Eren and Jean had sex under the pretense of a dare when they were the last virgins in the group. Incredibly wasted and not wanting to be seen as inferior to the other, they both readily accepted the dare (which had been cast by the entire group, even Mikasa). Afterwards, they vowed to never do it again. They didn’t break that vow.  
Connie and Sasha exchanged a glance as Mikasa kept a firm grip on both Eren and Jean to keep them separated; an idea had struck them.

“’Eyyy! We have an idea!” They claimed enthusiastically. 

“Let’s hear it.” Marco said, eager for Eren and Jean to stop looking at each other like they were going to kill each other. They were friends, but they were always ready for a fight. Always. Especially during the (many) nights that alcohol was involved.

“I’m bored of this.” Ymir muttered, tugging at Christa’s shirt to get her to turn around. They missed the events that took place next; making out on the floor was far more interesting to them.

“Alright, so, Jean doesn’t believe Eren’s going out with a twenty-three year old. Right?” Connie’s speech was rapid and hard to make out, but everyone got the gist of it. Eren didn’t feel like pointing out the fact that he wasn’t actually dating Levi. Minor details. 

“Yeah. That’s right!” Jean replied.

“So. How about we have him call this guy? And if he picks up and sounds like a twenty-three year old dude, we believe him.” A completely flawed plan, of course, but pretty impressive for somebody who would probably fall down whenever he would make the attempt to stand up. 

“Ugh. Fine. I bet he doesn’t have a number anyways.” Jean said; he let his body relax a bit, letting Mikasa know that he (probably) wouldn’t attack Eren if she let go. 

“Eren has to agree to it!” Sasha pointed out.

“Fuck yeah, I’ll do it! Easy!” He grabbed his phone from his pocket and his hazy mind eventually registered that somehow it was already almost one in the morning. Levi would probably kill him, but Eren didn’t care. Right then his only concern was calling and proving that he knew the twenty-three year old that Mikasa said he did. And so without further ado, he selected the contact labeled “Levi” on his phone and put it to his ear, waiting for the response he wasn’t even sure he’d get.

-x-

The best way to describe Levi’s day as boring, as typical. The everyday movements proceeded swiftly to the firm rhythm of day-by-day repetition; monotony left unbroken. Work, Levi expected very little of. That would cause no disappointment to Levi, because that was meant to be the same old thing day by day. But after work was another thing. As Levi sat sprawled out on the living room couch after work, casually lifting a newly-lit cigarette to his thin lips, he couldn’t pinpoint the source of his melancholic feeling. As if there should have been more to the day than there had been. 

When his phone buzzed to alert him of a new text message, he found the answer to be so painstakingly obvious and so embarrassing that he give an indignant snort and tightened his grip on his phone. Nine ‘o clock at night, and not a single call from Eren. Although it took two to skip a phone call, Levi had been operating under the assumption that Eren would be so desperately excited about their movie plans that he would call as soon as opportunity allowed. The time had passed Levi by and he hadn’t even noticed the darkening of the sky that prompted the bright city lights to come alive for the evening. He’d thought about Eren several times throughout the day but time had still escaped him. 

And suddenly it was ten ‘o clock, and then eleven. Levi refused to play the role of desperate teenage boy who was obviously more eager than the other person involved. No, that role was not meant to be his. Although, it did highlight another good point for Levi. Eren really was just a desperate teenage boy, and desperate teenage boys were rash. They were spur of the moment. Perhaps he’d met somebody better suited for him at school earlier that day. Perhaps he’d realized that going to a movie with a twenty-three year old man that he had met dressed in a pastel pink dress really wasn’t the best idea. In his defense, it probably wasn’t.

Twelve ‘o clock, and Levi had decided to let go of the movie idea. It’d been stupid, anyways. Yeah, hang out with an underage (but almost of age, a small crevice of his mind reminded him) boy and end up dating him. Because that was obviously the best option. Levi decided that he was a complete idiot.

Twelve-thirty. Still far too early to go to bed, but too late to really do anything. At least, do anything with the few people he was willing to do anything with. Everyone went to bed earlier than him except for two; Hanji and Erwin. Hanji was with Mike at work (and would probably just go home with him), so she was out of the question. Erwin was either at work or at home, and Levi had no clue which. Levi wondered if his interest in Eren was his mind’s way of distracting himself from Erwin. Either way, Levi had no interest in calling up Erwin. Erwin had moved on, and so had he. That was that.

One ‘o clock. The low hum of the TV was suddenly no longer the only source of sound in the room. Levi had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts (as was a common occurrence for him) that he jumped when his phone rang; his heartbeat sped up and he had to take a second to gather himself before answering. At first he planned on ignoring the shrill ringing under the assumption that Erwin would be on the other end of the receiver. But Erwin’s name was not illuminated on the phone’s screen; Eren’s was. 

What the hell was the kid thinking, calling at one in the morning? The little fucking idiot was lucky that Levi was always up far later than one, because if the call had woken him up in the middle of sleep, there would have been hell to pay. 

“Hello?” Levi said into the receiver.

“Hiii, is this Levi?” Eren’s speech was undoubtedly slurred. No wonder Levi hadn’t gotten a call before now; the kid had obviously spent the better part of his evening drinking, presumably with others. His guess was correct; several other voices filled the background with noise. A small gathering, by the sounds of it. It reminded him of some of the nights he’d spent with his own friends. 

“Yeah, it is.”

“Good! Good.” Eren reiterated. His voice lowered and it was obvious he was addressing whoever else was in the room, not Levi. 

“Guys! I told you! Listen. I fucking told you, Jean!” 

Levi rolled his eyes. 

“Hey, Eren.”

“Yeahhh?”

“I highly suggest you stop calling adults when you’re drunk. You’re going to get arrested. Now, if proving a point to your friends or whatever is the only reason you called me, I’m hanging up right now.”

“Wait, Levi!” The desperate plea prevented Levi from pressing the “end call” button like he had every intention to. 

“What do you want?” Levi asked impatiently. He wondered if Eren had suddenly remembered what this conversation should have been about in the first place. 

“Ummm. I don’t know what I was gonna say so bye Levi!” Another voice joined Eren’s near the end.

“What, you’re not going to say “I love you” to your precious boyfriend!? God you’re such a fuckin’ idiot, Eren!” 

Levi sighed and didn’t bother to question why some asshole was referring to him as Eren’s boyfriend; this time he followed through with ending the call. Teenagers. Teenagers were obnoxious as shit.

Irritated beyond belief and having nothing better to do, Levi went to his room and turned the TV on. He tossed and turned for a few hours until around four-thirty, he finally drifted off to sleep.

-x-

By the time Eren woke up in the morning, everyone else was gone; a scan of his surroundings showed him that Mikasa was still sound asleep on the couch. Obviously, dad hadn’t come home at all during the night, because everything was still in complete disarray; empty pizza boxes and countless glasses and bottles were spread throughout the room. 

His head was pounding and he gagged; realizing that he was about to puke up whatever alcohol still tainted his system, he scrambled up and ran into the bathroom. He made it just in time, vomiting directly into the toilet. He didn’t move from his position crouched over the toilet, knowing more was likely to come. He was right. After another couple rounds of retching up last night’s copious alcohol consumption, he knew that everything was out of his system. Last night had been a blast with everyone (from what he could still for sure remember) but it was difficult not to regret it when he felt sicker than a goddamn dog. 

Once back in the living room, he found his phone and glanced at the clock; eleven in the morning. Shit. 

For lack of a better option, he decided to try and call in for him and Mikasa. He apologized to the office lady for not calling sooner and that his children (since he was under the guise of their dad) weren’t feeling well, so they wouldn’t be in school at all. The lady didn’t sound convinced, but their school didn’t really give that much of a fuck, so she didn’t give him a hard time about it. 

Eren hung up the phone and stared at his smartphone for a few moments before coming to another realization.

The memory was fuzzy, but he somewhat remembered the call he’d made to Levi in the middle of the night. And from what he remembered, it wasn’t a good thing. He had no clue what job Levi had (assuming he did have one) and what times he worked, but he got the feeling Levi was at work. Despite that, he couldn’t keep himself from texting him.  
 _  
[Eren]_

_Hey. Im sorry about last night_

Surprisingly, he received a reply only a few moments later.

_[Levi]_

_Whatever_

_[Eren]_

_Are you mad about it?_

_[Levi]_

_I don’t really care_

_[Eren]_

_I know we were supposed to plan it yesterday but do you still want to do the movie thing today_

_[Levi]_

_You didn’t go to school today did you_

_[Eren]_

_Why?_

_[Levi]_

_Judging by the quality of your call last night I felt like making an educated guess_

_[Eren]_

_Fine. Youre right right I stayed home today_

_[Levi]_

_How hung over are you right now_

_[Eren]_

_Well I can still function. Why_

_[Levi]_

_Do you really still want to go to a movie in that case_

_[Eren]_

_Its not like movies take much effort so yes. Only if you want to though_

_[Levi]_

_I don’t care. Ill go. Only if I can pick the movie though_

_[Eren]_

_Yeah that’s fine. Thanks for still going with me_

_[Levi]_

_Yeah whatever. Is 5:30 alright_

_[Eren]_

_Sure_

_[Levi}_

_Alright see you then_

_[Eren]_

_Yep_

-x-

As four-fifteen in the afternoon rolled around, Eren found himself in turmoil over what the hell he was going to wear. His short, apologetic conversation with Levi had provided him no clue on whether or not he should treat the goddamn movie as a date or not. But it wasn’t like they were going to a romantic dinner; even if considered a date, it was still a movie. Eren felt like a fourteen year old girl, unable to decide which outfit would be the perfect balance of god even knows what. In the end, he settled on a navy blue and white striped t-shirt with a light pair of jeans.

Soon it was five and time for Eren to head out. He was the first to arrive, and doubt flooded his mind as the minutes ticked by. He checked his phone a second time to make sure that he was in the spot they’d agreed upon; he was. He noticed that he was a bit early, a fact that eased his trepidation if only a little bit. 

A figure approached him with a quick, steady stride. Before Eren knew it, Levi was closing the distance between them, a cigarette perched between his fingers and smoke escaping carelessly from his parted lips. He was almost unrecognizable to Eren’s eyes, and he stared at him with a look warped with confusion.

As Levi took another puff from his lit cigarette and brought it back down, he said, “What? You didn’t honestly think I would show up in lolita, did you? Idiot.” 

Eren realized that Levi’s clothing was what had thrown him off; he’d only seen Levi in a poofy pink dress with knee-high socks and mary janes. When he’d seen him, his face had been adorned with a fair amount of makeup. Now it was easier to see his facial features in their truest form, and it wasn’t disappointing in the slightest.The feminine qualities had been exchanged for the appearance of a very attractive twenty-three year old man wearing dark jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Before, his hair had been messed up from being gathered into a wig cap for the better portion of the day. Now it was expertly parted and smooth, adding to his sheer attractiveness.

“I, uh. No?”

“Choking on your own words, eh?”

“Shut up.”

“You look tragic as hell right now. Are you sure you want to be doing this instead of sleeping at home?” Eren raised his eyebrows at the display of concern. Levi was right, though; he felt like shit. Even so, he’d rather be there than at home. 

“I think I can handle sitting down in a comfortable chair for a couple hours.”

“Whatever. Do what you want. Just know that you look like you’re struggling.” He didn’t just look like it. He fucking was.

“So, you look nice.” Eren said with a sheepish smile, turning the subject away from his apparently obvious hung-over state. 

“You don’t look like shit, I guess. Except you do. Your clothes, though. They don’t look as shitty as you do right now.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Levi sounded so genuine that it was alarming to think that he really thought he was paying Eren a compliment with his former statement. Eren chose to ignore it and move on, regretting his taste in men more and more by the second (except not regretting it because Levi really was fucking hot)

“Let’s. Um. Let’s just go inside now.”

“Sure.” Levi said, dropping his cigarette to the sidewalk and crushing it with his foot.

“So, what movie are we even seeing?” Eren was extremely curious to know, considering he’d given Levi full-reign over the choice in film. Eren didn’t have the slightest clue as to what Levi would want to pick.

“A new romantic comedy. I chose it because you’re an idiot who got drunk, called me at one in the morning, and then skipped school the next day.” Levi replied nonchalantly (this is a lie. Levi chose a romantic comedy because he fucking loves them, no matter how hard he tries to deny it). 

“Wow, thanks. Very sweet of you. I already apologized to you, you know.”

“You’ll get over it.”

They walked inside together and got their tickets before heading over to the snack counter. They decided to split a tub of popcorn but get separate sodas (all of which Levi paid for despite Eren offering to pay for his own stuff). With popcorn and soda in tow, they made their way to the darkened theatre that was playing the new, apparently much-anticipated new (chick flick) romantic comedy on its screen. On the bright side, that meant it was played on one of the largest screens in their cinema. 

They mutually agreed that seats near the back/top of the room were far preferable to ones up front or even in the middle. They ended up situating themselves in the very last row, where almost nobody else was seated. Since it was a Tuesday evening, the theatre wasn’t very full. 

Eren found himself slightly grateful for the fact that movies required no actual interaction. They were able to just sit back and watch the movie at their leisure, under no obligation to say anything to one another.

-x-

A white woman appeared on the screen who’d decided she no longer believed in love. Levi focused his full attention on the heartbreaking life of the woman and how she met the man who would change her life forever. About forty-five minutes into the film, he was going to comment on one of the movie’s events to Eren, so he looked over at him and opened his mouth to whisper to him. 

What he found, however, was Eren leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed and his eyes closed; he was sound asleep. His mouth was hanging open and it was nothing short of a miracle that he wasn’t snoring. Well, at least the kid was sleeping off a bit more of his hangover. Levi remembered those days, those school nights spent getting drunk enough to forget about school the next morning. 

He found himself wondering what had been going through Eren’s mind the past few days. His first impression of Levi versus whatever he thought now. Whether or not Eren would have liked him better if he really were a girl. It didn’t seem like it made a difference to him, but one never knows. He wondered if Levi was filler for the gap that loneliness left in the same way he was beginning to think Eren was the fill for the void that Erwin had left. But Levi doubted he would look to a seventeen year old just for that purpose. There had to be more to it. Eren was attracting him in a way that he didn’t understand; in all reality, it was likely he never would quite pinpoint what drew him to Eren.

He shook his head and escaped from his train of thought, realizing that he was missing the movie that he’d paid nine dollars just to see. At least he was getting more for his money than Eren was. He could have gotten away with eating most of the popcorn if he wanted to, but he decided to only eat his share of it just in case Eren woke up hungry; assuming he actually woke up before the movie ended. 

With a half hour left of the movie, Levi heard Eren stir beside him. He yawned and stretched, looking confused about his surroundings before recognition and remembrance crossed his features. 

“Congrats. You missed pretty much the whole goddamn thing.” Levi said, popping a piece of popcorn into his mouth. “And this is a long movie, too.”

“Eh, I didn’t miss much. It was a shitty movie from what I did watch.”

“Excuse you.”

“Wait, you actually like this?”

“Is that a problem…Wait. What’s your last name?”

“Huh? Why?” Sleepiness dragged out Eren’s voice.

“I feel the need to know your last name. Trust me, it’s important to know.”

“Fine. Yeager.”

“Yeager?”

“Yeager.”

“Alright. Let’s try this again. Is that a problem, Yeager?”

“Um. No. But-”

“But?”

“But…are you sure you’re not actually a girl?”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re defending chick flicks. And I don’t think I’ve stopped doubting your gender since Saturday, anyways.” 

“So in other words, you want to see my dick.”

“That is not at all what I’m saying.”

“Isn’t it, though?”

“No!” Eren’s voice had risen above a whisper, and Levi shot him a look.

“Shut up, dear lord. We’re still in the theatre, you know. And yes, it is. You refuse to believe I’m a guy even though we both know damn well that I am. There’s stranger things out there than a man admitting a romantic comedy is touching.”

“Yeah, okay, I get what you’re saying.”

“You sound doubtful.”

“Yeah.”

“Wanna see my dick?”

“Oh my god.”

“What.”

“Stop asking if I want to see your dick. I don’t, by the way.”

“Don’t you, though?”

“What happened to being concerned over the fact that I’m not an adult yet?”

“Good question.”

They dropped the conversation. Levi was glad that he saved the popcorn, because Eren devoured the rest of it during the remainder of the movie. Soon the credits were rolling and it was time for the two to make their exit. 

As they dumped their empty sodas into the trash can, Eren spoke.

“Thanks for coming here with me.” He grinned at Levi, who look about as amused as he always did.

“It was pointless, but you’re welcome.”

“Well, I still had fun.”

“Great.” 

Eren chose to ignore Levi’s sarcasm.

“So, am I allowed to hang out with you again?”

“If you actually stay conscious for it, sure.”

“Really?” Eren couldn’t keep the disbelief (and eagerness) out of his tone.

“Stop questioning what I say.”

“Or?” 

“Or I don’t invite you over to my house right now.” 

“What?” Levi was seriously going to invite him over? That was surprising. Really surprising. 

“There it is. A question. Offer revoked.”

“You’re so fucking weird.”

“Hey, you signed up for this.”

“Did not.”

“You did, though, dumbass.” They were out of the theatre now; Levi immediately grabbed a cigarette from the pack he kept in his pocket and lifted it to his lips before lighting it. They walked towards the parking lot in silence, smoke stemming from Levi’s cigarette and enveloping them in a smoky haze.

“Well?” He prompted.

“Well, what?” Eren asked, confused yet again.

“Are you coming to my house or what?”

“Why?”

“God, stop asking questions.”

“Stop being so sudden and weird an-”

“Says he who asked the pretty girl out after two hours.”

“Shut up.” 

“Answer the goddamn question.”

Eren looked at the older incredulously. He was really beginning to wonder how his teenage heart could so easily throw its affection at the asshole. But as is typical for teenagers, he decided to skip thinking and just go with it.

“Yeah, I’ll go to your house.”

“Good, then. Let’s go. You can follow me.”

And so Eren climbed into his car and followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there'll be more grown men in frilly dresses next chapter~!!

**Author's Note:**

> Somebody keep me from making a multi-chapter out of this. I already have multi-chapter things to work on [cries]
> 
> Anyways, this was really fun to write! Wooo, sweet lolita Levi is best.
> 
> Also, I'll probably write more Lolita!Levi/Ereri things if you guys want. Because this was way too much fun and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Please tell me somebody /other/ than me wants this.
> 
> EDIT. I've been informed that people want this as a multi-chapter and more than just a oneshot. And that's exactly what we're gonna do.


End file.
